Let me get this straight. After the departure of the former Barnstable Town Manager John Klimm, the voters were promised a true search for a professional manager. After all, part of the Klimm demise and his ultimate leaving for greener pastures was a by-product of some on the council and many in Barnstable having the desire for a better, more professional and hands on manager who would and could run our town the way it should be, and not on the autopilot that our town has been running rampantly now for the past many years.

So where did that promised ‘search’ go anyway? Sure, the council used the old excuse when Klimm left that it would be best if the then Assistant Manager Tom Lynch ran the town while that ‘search’ went on…promises, promises. There are many troubling circumstances that transpired over the past several weeks with the council, and maybe the only good news is that some of those guilty of breaking the promise to we the voters are gone now. I, for one, am not sad.

How sad is it that there were yet more secret meetings at town hall. Sound familiar? And how sad is it also that only six of the 13 councilors were in attendance at one of their all too familiar secret executive sessions on Oct. 28! The terms of the offer to Mr. Lynch were not released to the other seven councilors, not listed in the council agenda on Nov. 7nor were the terms even available to the press! And they call this open government?!

I spoke at the council meeting on Nov. 7 and I asked for even one person with some old fashioned integrity to have the vote for the extension suspended. After all, the contract for Mr. Lynch is not even up until next June, but most on the council could have cared less. Another speaker also questioned all of it, but the council ignored us and could have cared less! So we can only ask: Is this good government? Nope. Is this fair government? No. Is this ethical government? Not even close! And is this Open Government? Unfortunately the last time our town had any kind of Open Government was in the late ‘90s, before former manager Klimm took over in 2000. From then on, it has been a putrid spiral of pitiful representation from our elected officials. Here is hoping that some of the new faces can begin to restore some integrity, honesty and decency back into our town government. As for those still on the council who lack it, it is highly unlikely that they will ever exude what we elected them for in the first place.

Finally, for those who missed it, the vote for this back door deal was ten to three. The only three with that old fashioned integrity who voted “no” were John Norman from Marstons Mills, Ann Canedy from Barnstable and James Cote from Osterville.

Too bad those other ten didn’t have half the integrity of these councilors. They remembered why they were elected in the first Place. Barnstable voters deserve better! From here on in, please pass the integrity, if there is any left!